Maccabi wins Euroleague clash, still in Round of 16 hunt

Maccabi Tel Aviv picked up their second Euroleague win of the season as they defeated Dinamo Sassari to keep themselves in with a slim chance of reaching the top 16.

The Israeli side was led by Sylven Landsberg’s 16 points. Maccabi now sit two games behind Darussafaka Istanbul and can overtake the Turkish side if they win both their final games and Darussafaka lose both. Maccabi travel to Istanbul in the final game which could be all to play for.

Maccabi’s new coach Zan Tabak said after the Sassari win: “This is a very important win for us, not in particular because we can keep going to hope to reach the Top 16 but it’s very important for our identity. Some of my players are striving to be self-confident and I saw an answer tonight that it’s very important to get our personality as a team. We played great defense and we didn’t allow Dinamo Sassari to score a lot of points.”

Maccabi Rishon LeZiyon lost at home to Academic Sofia 77-72, but the Israeli side still won their group and advance to the round of 32.